We want our customers to have the choice to shop on any platform, that they are most comfortable with instead of directing traffic to a particular platform.Rahul Taneja, Vice President-Category Management at Snapdealspeaks to ET's Sagar Malviya about the e-commerce majors preparation ahead of the upcoming festive season and the expectations from the sale period.

Diwali is perhaps the biggest period for electronics sales. How will Snapdeal be different in a situation when most online and offline players are promising heavy discounting and value added services.

We have a mega Monday electronics sale today. Our sales is a mix of hourly special deals and all day deals on flagship products, including 4G phones which are a big focus area right now. What is unique about the electronics sales on Snapdeal is widest assortment across most players, both online and offline not limited to mid range products only but across various price bands and we have a lot of exclusive devices including Micromax Spark, Yu Yunique, Meizu m2, and exclusive deals such as Canon 1200D. Our discounts and offers will be available across all three platforms- web, wap and app. We want our customers to have the choice to shop on any platform, that they are most comfortable with instead of directing traffic to a particular platform.

Last year, several durables and mobile makers were upset about discounting of products with some even clarifying that consumers won't get after sales service if they buy merchandise online? As the situation been resolved?

Sellers on Snapdeal are small businesses, retailers or brands directly and the warranties and after sales that are available to customers for offline purchases do apply online too. We work very closely with our brand partners to ensure that our customers get full warranties and after sales service when they buy from Snapdeal.

We are the eCommerce platform for our brand partners helping them expand their reach to customers across 5000 plus towns and cities in India.

How important is discount in driving sales for such big ticket items.

Diwali is the time, when India shops. Many people believe it to be an auspicious time to make big ticket purchases coupled with a lot of social activity. This leads to a surge in demand across categories ranging from real estate to automobiles to fashion items. Discounts is only one lever that adds to the already high purchase sentiment that persists during this period. We aim to deliver the most value to consumers through great offers and exceptional customer experience.

Post Diwali, do we see a lull in demand or your offers or both?

We see a huge number of new customers adopting e-commerce each Diwali. Though one would expect, the demand to taper off after the festive season, but each Diwali sets a new normal. Post Diwali, the demand only shifts to different categories as there is change of season. We experience a surge in winter clothing, heaters, geysers, etc.We are an online marketplace with more than 2,00,000 sellers listed online offering 15 million+ products. At any given point of time, there are brands and sellers who want to promote sales through different offers. The categories of interest for buyers and sellers keep changing depending on the time of the year.

How have you geared up your backend and vendor partnership so that there are no glitches in fulfilling orders?

Over the last year, we have invested heavily in ramping up our technology platform and supply chain capabilities. We unveiled a new user interface across all platforms about four months back, which has been very well received by our customers. To strengthen our logistics infrastructure, we have built over 1.3 million square feet of fulfillment space with 63 centres across 25 cities. Our average order delivery time has come down by 70% in the past six months. For a great customer experience, we have also introduced services like Snapdeal Instant, Card on Delivery, Open Box Delivery and 90 mins reverse pick up.In addition, we are working closely with our sellers to enable them to forecast demand for the festive season and plan inventory accordingly. Through our Capital Assist program, we are also facilitating access to low interest working capital loans for our sellers to enable them to scale their operations. We are fully prepared to provide our customers the most delightful shopping experience this festive season.

What is the expected GMV you hope to achieve during the sale period and from how many visitors?

On our first Preview Monday Sale on 28th Sept, we saw 10x the revenue as compared to usual business days. We also had 5 million app downloads during the 24 hour period. We are confident that this Diwali is going be much bigger than any other period we have witnessed before. This will be primarily driven by a large influx of new customers, huge jump in our assortment of products, increased confidence of customers and our ability to deliver on their expectations.

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